New data from payroll companies suggests that small businesses are slowly beginning to add employees, even as the most recent Labor Department report shows the unemployment rate held steady at just under 10 percent. Some economists believe these numbers indicate the recession is bottoming out.

Based on data gathered from Intuit’s online payroll service, companies with less than 20 employees have added jobs since June 2009, said Business Week Additionally, data from SurePayroll shows the average paycheck for workers at businesses with fewer than 100 employees has stabilized, said Business Week.

President Obama has put forth a number of measures intended to get people back to work, including tax incentives for businesses that hire new employees and pushing banks to free up more credit for small businesses.

John Bishop, a labor economist at Cornell University, told Business Week that temporary incentives like tax credits could create more than 2 million jobs in a year.
“It potentially has a huge effect, and small business would be the primary beneficiary of that,” Bishop told Business Week.

Small businesses should begin taking social networking more seriously, says a new study by Business.com.

The 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study shows how and where businesses and business people are using social media.

Some employers ban the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, believing that they are simply time wasters. But the study points out that these sites can be a terrific resource for marketing, lead generation and increasing web site traffic. The study also touches on how businesses can use the video-sharing site YouTube and search engine optimization to their advantage.

In his blog on ContentMarketingToday.com,Newt Barrett gives six compelling reasons why you should jump on the social networking bandwagon now. He says that old-school marketing techniques don’t work as well anymore as more customers make buying decisions online. Online marketing, like creating a blog or Twitter feed, costs little or no money. And since many small businesses haven’t adopted social media, you can get a jump on the competition.

The Small Business Administration reminded disaster victims that they do not have to wait to settle with their insurance companies before applying for disaster loan assistance.

Specifically, victims of severe storms and flooding in Kentucky on Aug. 4, 2009, should return their completed loan applications as soon as possible, said an SBA press release. Homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations of all sizes in Jefferson County, Ky., are eligible to apply for SBA physical disaster loans.

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property. Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets, said the SBA.

Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial situation.

SBA representatives will be at Disaster Recovery Centers in the area to issue loan applications and answer questions. Click here for more information.